In a breakthrough which may pave way for an effective treatment of inoperable cancers, scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have developed radio pharmaceuticals, which they claim can be used for curing skin and liver tumours besides alleviating rheumatic arthritis.

"A research carried out in BARC in collaboration with few hospitals in the country has shown Lutetium-177 (Lu-177), Yittrium-90 (Y-90) and Phosphorus-32 (P-32) as very effective therapeutic radionuclides (radio pharmaceuticals) that can be used in the treatment of cancers of liver, skin and in non-cancerous maladies such as rheumatic arthritis and haemophilia," Meera Venkatesh, Head, Radio pharmaceuticals Division told PTI.

Lu-177, with great potential in treatment of neuro- endocrine tumours, has advantages like shorter range of tissue penetration making it an ideal candidate for radiotherapy of smaller, soft tumours.

It also has both gamma and beta emitting properties, enabling it to be used in imaging studies, as well as for treatment, Venkatesh said.

India is leading in conducting research using Lu-177 based radio pharmaceuticals in the world. Y-90 and P-32 have also proved to be effective in the treatment of liver cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and skin cancer respectively, she said.

V Venugopal, Director, Radiochemistry and Isotope said, BARC has been engaged over the last 50 years in distributing radioisotopes Molybdenum-99, Iodine-131, Samarium-153 for a variety of medical applications.

Since 1989, these isotopes are being supplied by BARC through the Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT), the unit of Department of Atomic Energy, dealing with commercial aspects of radiation and radioisotope supply, he said.

In-vivo (inside human body) therapy using radio pharmaceuticals has been growing in the world. Among the long list of potential therapeutic radionuclides, the above three isotopes have better scope for wider use and hence pursued by BARC, he said.

Lu-177 is presently considered as an excellent radionuclide for use in in-vivo therapy owing to its favourable nuclear decay characteristics. "The physical half-life of Lu-177 is adequately long for supply to places far away from reactors without appreciable decay loss.

Besides, it can be produced with sufficiently high specific activity with excellent radionuclide purity to almost 100 per cent using the moderate flux research reactors such as Dhruva," Venkatesh said. "This isotope available from Radio pharmaceuticals Division of BARC is being used for the preparation of Lu-177 DOTA-TATE and treatment of cancer patients suffering from neuro-endocrine tumours for the past two and a half years, at five hospitals across India," she said.

EXCELLENT RESULTS

The experiments have shown that complete regression of skin cancer was possible if we put multiple applications of these beta emitters (P-32) in close contact (called Mould Brachytherapy). "Based on the animal experiments, we collaborated with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and eight patients with different facial skin cancers were treated with multiple applications of the P-32 patch in close contact with the affected skin and the results were excellent," Venkatesh said.